Daily Archives: April 17, 2018

From Boston to San Francisco, young activists from IfNotNow demonstrate outside the offices of prominent Jewish institutions and senators, demanding they condemn Israel’s violence against Gaza protesters.

Police arrest an IfNotNow protester outside Senator Chuck Schumer’s office in New York City, during an action protesting IDF violence on the border with Gaza, April 9, 2018. (Gili Getz)

Thirty-seven American Jews were arrested across the United States last week in a series of actions outside the offices of major Jewish institutions and elected officials to protest the ongoing violence against Palestinians at the Israel-Gaza border.

[tmwinpost]

The actions, organized by the Jewish-American group IfNotNow, took place in Boston, New York, Twin Cities, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, and Washington DC, where young Jews demanded statements condemning Israeli violence against the unarmed protesters taking part in the “Great Return March.” Since the march began three weeks ago, Israeli snipers have killed over 30 Palestinians and wounded 1,200 more.

IfNotNow was established in the summer of 2014 during Israel’s war in Gaza by young American Jews. Angered by the overwhelming support of American Jewish institutions for the war, they began organizing actions calling for an end to the war, an end to the occupation, and freedom and dignity for all. Since then, IfNotNow has organized hundreds of nonviolent actions — and, more recently, delegations to Israel-Palestine — with the aim of pushing Jewish institutions to stop supporting the occupation.

The first action took place in Boston on the morning of April 3rd, less than a week after Israeli snipers gunned down 17 Palestinians in Gaza. Activists chained themselves to the Israeli Consulate of New England, read the Mourner’s Kaddish, a Jewish prayer traditionally recited for family or community members who have died, and demanded that Consul General Yehuda Yaakov condemn Israeli violence. Eight activists were arrested.

Young Jewish activists from IfNotNow link arms outside the Israeli Consulate of New England in Boston. The activists read the Mourner’s Kaddish and demanded the consul general condemn IDF violence against Palestinian marchers in Gaza, April 3, 2018. (Emily Glick)

Eliza Kaplan, 24, who participated in the Boston action, spoke to +972 by phone about the impetus for the actions: “We see the status quo in Gaza to be unacceptable, and we find the IDF’s violence to be horrendous. That is why we are calling on Jewish leaders to condemn it and be a moral voice. If they are not going to be the moral leaders of our community, then IfNotNow will be those leaders.”

SUBSCRIBE TO +972 MAGAZINE’S WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

SUBMIT

“My Jewish identity is really important to me,” Kaplan continued, “we are trying to bring our entire community to share the values of freedom for all people and speak out.” Less than a week after the Boston action, seven IfNotNow activists were arrested after blocking the doors of New York Senator Chuck Schumer’s New York City office.

On April 10th, a group of Jewish activists locked arms in front of the entrance of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Minnesota, blocking entry to the many businesses in the building. A day later, five Jewish activists were arrested after blocking the doors of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles’ offices. Elon Glickman, one of those arrested, spoke to the crowd during the action:

I grew up in the Jewish community of Los Angeles, where I learned that freedom and dignity are core Jewish values. As young Jews and members of this Jewish community, we’re asking the Federation to do the bare minimum and condemn this unconscionable violence. How long will they stay silent as live ammunition is used against Palestinian protesters? How many more Palestinians need to be killed before they speak out?

On April 13th, a group of 20 young Jews from IfNotNow Bay Area demonstrated outside California Senator Dianne Feinstein’s office in San Francisco. Nine of the activists who blocked the entrance to her office were arrested. The activists demanded that she join Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders in condemning the violence. Later that afternoon, Feinstein tweeted that the violence is “exceptionally destructive for both the Palestinians and the state of Israel. It must end. Violence is not the pathway to reconciliation.”

When the police in Jammu (the Hindu-dominated part of Kashmir) tried to register a charge against the men they had arrested, a Hindu nationalist mob threatened the few honest policemen and lawyers who were trying to do their jobs. The was a mob with a difference: it included government ministers, lawyers and women waving the national flag in favour of the arrested men, as well as supporters of the two major Indian parties, Congress and the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) – the party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in Britain this week to attend the Commonwealth heads of government meeting.

Share this:

Like this:

Jones has been at the front of a group of conspiracy theorists who contend that the shooting was a staged ‘false flag’ event intended to push gun control

Two of the families who lost children in the Sandy Hook mass shooting are suing radio host Alex Jones and his website Infowars for defamation after becoming the target of internet conspiracy theorists.

Jones has been at the front of a small but loud group of conspiracy theorists who believe that the shooting was a staged “false flag” event, intended to push US public opinion toward increased gun control. “Undoubtedly, there’s a cover-up, there’s actors, they’re manipulating, they’ve been caught lying, and they were pre-planning before it,” Jones said in a March 2014 broadcast.

Culture War is Class War disguised. The Wealthy Elite--the "Filthy Rich"--foment Culture War in society to distract and cover their real economic motives. Culture War, Class War explores the resulting cultural divide--how it was instigated and kept alive for fifty years in America by certain elite powers and how and why they choose to benefit while tearing families in two and keeping America paralyzed.